JPH0368265B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to valve technology, and more specifically to maximizing the efficiency of air flow control over short strokes of valve spools. The present invention relates to a four-way flow direction control air valve using a valve spool that is operated directly by a solenoid with minimal tolerance build-up. The valve of the present invention is suitable for use in an air flow line to control the direction of air flow in a line, such as an air supply line connected to both ends of an air cylinder. Suitable for use in industrial air applications to control operations in air. Air cylinders are used in various types of industrial machinery.

PRIOR ART It is known in the pneumatic valve art to provide pneumatic valves with valve spools operated by solenoids. Traditionally, in four-way flow directional control air valves using a valve spool operated directly by a solenoid, the valve spool has been stopped by some suitable stop within the solenoid lid. Such conventional direct acting solenoid valve spool structures involved many tolerances in fabricating the various parts of the solenoid, including the lid and lid gasket. With such conventional construction, it is impossible to create a directly solenoid-operated valve with as little tolerance accumulation as possible to force the solenoid to make a precise short stroke and give the four-way valve spool an equally precise short stroke. It was possible. In such conventional flow direction controlled direct acting electromagnetic slip valves, it has also been necessary to take into account various tolerances in manufacturing the valve spool in order to provide the desired valve spool stroke.

Problem to be Solved by the Invention It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a flow-direction-controlled direct-acting electromagnetic slip valve with as little tolerance accumulation as possible.

Means for Solving the Problems According to the present invention, the flow of pressurized air towards one end of an air cylinder is controlled while exhausting from the other end of the air cylinder, and then the air flow condition is controlled by a short A flow direction controlled direct acting electromagnetic slip valve is provided having a short stroke valve spool with stroke reversal control. This valve spool can be movable in one direction by a directly engageable solenoid and in the other by a return spring, or can be operated in both directions by a directly engageable solenoid. Good too. The valve spool is positioned in an initial position with one end pressed directly against the pole piece of the solenoid, which is pressed against the adjacent end of the valve body to which the valve spool is operably mounted. Tolerances for manufacturing valve spools to precise lengths to alter the flow of pressurized air through the valve to one end of the air cylinder and to control the discharge of air from the other end of the air cylinder to the exhaust system. All of these can be adjusted from the end of the valve body against which the aforementioned pole pieces are pressed. In addition, the movable part of the solenoid,
That is, tolerances for pole lengths, pushrods, and armature positions can be accurately determined with minimal tolerance accumulation. The direct solenoid operated valve of the present invention is a flow direction controlled direct operated solenoid slip valve with high flow control efficiency, short stroke and minimal power solenoid for air flow direction control operations with minimal energy used. I will provide a.

EXAMPLES Referring to the drawings, and in particular to FIG. 1, the number 10 is
1 generally represents a first exemplary embodiment of a flow directionally controlled direct acting electromagnetic slip valve made in accordance with the principles of the present invention. The valve 10 includes a valve body 11 surrounded on the upper side by a top cover plate 12, which is removably secured in place on the valve body 11 by a plurality of suitable machine screws 13. . A horizontal longitudinal valve bore 14 is formed through the valve body 11 and is open at both ends. A conventional valve spool, generally designated by the numeral 15, is slidably mounted in the valve spool bore 14.

As shown in FIG. 1, a centrally located pressurized air inlet chamber 18 communicates with the valve spool hole 14. A pair of cylinder chambers 19 and 21 are formed on opposite sides of the inlet chamber, which communicate with the valve spool hole 14 and are separated from the inlet chamber 18 by a pair of conventional lands (not numbered). Cylinder chamber 1
9 and 21 are connected to one cylinder port 20 and 22, respectively. A pair of exhaust chambers 16 and 17 are formed in the valve body 11 and communicate with the valve spool hole 14 at positions outside the cylinder chambers 19 and 21, respectively. Each exhaust chamber 16 and 17 is connected to a common exhaust chamber 25 by a respective exhaust passage 23. As shown, each exhaust passageway 23 has an adjustable flow control valve, generally designated by the numeral 24, mounted therein. However, it will be appreciated that the use of a flow control device such as 23 is optional and that a simple cover plate 12 without a flow control device may be used.

Valve spool 15 includes an annular valve element 28 that is slidably mounted on a land in valve spool bore 14 and that is connected to exhaust chamber 16 and cylinder chamber 19 .
and control the flow between these chambers. The valve spool 15 further includes a pair of centrally arranged
Spaced annular valve elements 29 and 30 are provided which extend within the valve spool bore 14 between the inlet chamber 18 and the cylinder chamber 19 and inlet chamber 18 respectively.
The flow over the land between the cylinder chamber 21 and the cylinder chamber 21 is controlled. The valve spool 15 is also provided with a fourth annular valve element 31 which controls the flow of air over the land in the valve spool bore 14 between the cylinder chamber 21 and the exhaust chamber 17. The valve spool 15 is further provided with an O-ring seal 32 at its right end and an O-ring seal 33 at its left end, and the seals 32 and 33 are slidably attached to the outer end portion of the valve spool hole 14. .

The numeral 36 generally represents a solenoid with a lid or housing 37. The solenoid 36 is secured to the valve body 11 by a suitable machine screw 35. Solenoid 36 has a support frame 34 that operably supports a conventional coil assembly 38. The frame 34 and coil assembly 38 are biased against the adjacent surface of the valve body 11 by a suitable spring 39. A spring biased pole piece 40 is slidably mounted within a core guide axially disposed within the coil assembly 38. The spring 41 is always connected to the magnetic pole piece 4
A bias force is applied to the outer end 47 of the valve spool hole 14, and as shown in FIG. A solenoid plunger or armature 43 is slidably mounted within a core guide in the central bore of the coil assembly 38, the inner end of which is connected to the outer end of a reduced diameter integral valve spool extension shaft or push rod 44. It operates when it comes into contact with. Valve spool extension shaft 44 is slidably mounted through an axial hole 45 formed through pole piece 40 . Solenoid armature 43 is located in close proximity to the outer end of valve spool extension shaft 44. Hole 48 in the outer edge of the solenoid lid 37
A manual actuator 51 is slidably mounted on and has a spring 50. Details of the structure of the solenoid are fully described in US Pat. No. 4,100,519.

The valve spool 15 is normally biased to the initial position shown in FIG. The spring 52 is disposed in the spring chamber with one end in contact with the left end 53 of the valve spool and the other end pressed against the inner wall of the pocket in the cover plate 54 and seated. The spring chamber cover plate 54 is secured with a suitable machine screw 55.
It is removably fixed to the valve body 11 by.

In use, cylinder ports 20 and 22
are, for example, connected to both ends of an air cylinder controlled by pressurized air. In the initial position of the valve spool 15 shown in FIG.
an inlet chamber 18 connected by suitable means to a source of pressurized air;
from the annular valve element 29 and into the cylinder chamber 19 through the valve spool hole 14 to the cylinder port 2.
It flows as if passing through 0. At the same time, air from the other end of the cylinder enters cylinder port 22, passes through cylinder chamber 21, through exhaust chamber 17 and exhaust passage 23, and into exhaust chamber 25 or any other suitable exhaust point that directs the air to the atmosphere. be discharged. When the solenoid 36 is energized, the armature 43
Moved to the left as seen in FIG. 1, it moves the valve spool extension shaft 44 to the left, reversing the flow conditions described above. The last mentioned movement of the valve spool 15 moves the annular valve element 28 into the exhaust chamber 16 to allow air flow to enter the exhaust chamber 16 from the cylinder chamber 19 and cylinder port 20. The rightmost annular valve element member 31 moves into a land in the valve spool hole 14 to prevent flow between the cylinder chamber 21 and the exhaust chamber 17. The annular valve elements 29 and 30 are moved to the left to close the communication between the inlet chamber 18 and the cylinder chamber 19 and open the communication between the inlet chamber 18 and the cylinder chamber 21;
Pressurized air is introduced into cylinder port 22 and valve 1
0 into the other end of the cylinder, while air is discharged from the opposite end of the air cylinder into the cylinder port 20, through the cylinder chamber 19 and the valve hole 14, and into the exhaust chamber. 16 and passageway 23 to exhaust chamber 25 and then to the atmosphere or any other suitable exhaust point.

Valve 10 is a very short stroke valve;
Tolerances are very tight for such valves. Valve 1
The zero construction minimizes the accumulation of tolerances in the various parts of this valve and makes the short stroke of the valve spool 15 accurate. Energy can be saved by making the stroke of the valve spool 15 very short. This is because the valve spool can be operated with a very small solenoid that provides the necessary force for such short strokes.

The valve structure depicted in FIG. 1 allows tolerances for machining the valve body 11 to be determined to the left of the right end face 42 of the valve body 11. Valve spool 15 is symmetrical. The location of the elements 28 to 31 is adjusted from one end of the valve spool, ie from the right end 46 of the valve spool which abuts the outer end 47 of the pole piece. Valve spool 1
The overall length of 5 is adjusted to minimize tolerance build-up if the valve spool 15 is reversed during valve assembly or during valve repair operations.
The right end face 42 of the valve body is the critical point at which the tolerances for the valve spool 15 begin to be adjusted, and the tolerances for the length of the pole piece 40 and the length of the pushrod 44 begin to be adjusted. The distance between the rear flat end of pole piece 40 and the front flat end of solenoid armature 43 is imparted to valve spool 15 when armature 43 is moved to the left as seen in FIG. Configure stroke length. In one embodiment, the stroke of the valve spool 15 is 0.066 cm (0.026″) and in such a short movement of the valve spool, the annular valve element 29
31 are moved a short distance sufficient to reverse the flow of air through valve 10.

Cover 37 of solenoid 36, core assembly 38
It will be appreciated that various tolerances contained within and other components do not affect the precise adjustment of the positioning of the valve spool 15 by the direct valve spool operating structure of the valve 10. The spring 41 is connected to the solenoid 3
6 is a common component that holds the pole piece 40 against the surface of the valve body 11 to keep the pole piece 40 in that position, and also to magnetically deactivate the solenoid if the spool 15 becomes stuck during operation. It has the dual function of allowing the pole piece 40 to be lifted from the valve body wall 42 to provide a permanent seal and prevent damage to the solenoid.

FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the invention, designated by the numeral 10a. Components of valve 10a that are the same as those of the first embodiment of FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals with a lowercase a. Valve 10a
is the valve spool 15 as shown in FIG.
A second solenoid (generally represented by the numeral 60) is provided to shift a to the right. Solenoid 60 is constructed in the same manner as solenoid 36a and includes a pole piece 62 biased by a coil spring 63 and pressed against a flat face 61 of the valve body perpendicular to valve spool hole 14a. . In the position shown in FIG.
7 is normally positioned against the surface 61 of the valve body. The valve spool 15a has a magnetic pole piece 62
It has an integral reduced diameter push rod or extension shaft 65 which constitutes a shaft which is slidably mounted through an axial hole 66 in the shaft.
In the position shown in FIG.
moves the armature 64 and presses it against the outer end of the push rod 65 to move the valve spool 15a to the second position.
It is biased to move in short strokes to the position shown and to hold it there. When the solenoid 60 is turned off and the solenoid 36a is energized, the solenoid 36a moves the valve spool 15a to the left, causing the left end surface 68 to move toward the outer end surface 6 of the magnetic pole piece 62.
Make sure to press it to 7. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, there are two points of reference by which the positional tolerances of the valve spool 15a within the valve body 11a can be determined:
That is, the valve body right end surface 42a and the valve body left end surface 6
There is 1. The lengths of pole pieces 40a and 62, push rods or shafts 44a and 65, and spool tolerances are controlled in the same manner as defined for the structure illustrated in FIG.

Effects of the Invention As explained above, the direct solenoid-operated air valve of the present application has a structure in which the push rod passes through the through hole of the magnetic pole piece. When determining the tolerance for the length of the valve body, the end face against which one end of the magnetic pole piece of the valve body is pressed can be used as a reference point, so that the accumulation of tolerance can be minimized.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a four-way flow directional air valve with a valve spool operated directly in one direction by a solenoid; FIG. 2 shows a valve spool operated directly by a solenoid in both directions; FIG. 2 is a partial view of a four-way flow direction control air valve using a. 11... Valve body; 14... Valve spool hole; 15...
... Valve spool; 20, 22 ... Cylinder port; 28, 29, 30, 31 ... Annular valve member; 3
8, 60... Solenoid; 40, 62... Magnetic pole piece; 41, 63... Spring; 42... Valve body end wall surface;
43, 64... Armature; 44, 65... Push rod; 45, 66... Axial hole in the pole piece; 46... Other end of the valve spool; 52... Return spring; 53... One end of the valve spool.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A valve spool having a valve spool hole, in which an elongated valve spool having a plurality of annular valve members slidingly and sealingly engages a plurality of lands in the valve spool hole slides. a movably mounted valve body, the valve spool having a first spool for controlling the flow of pressurized air through the valve in one direction and the evacuation of air through the valve in another direction; position and the second
in a flow directionally controlled direct acting electromagnetic slip valve adapted to be directly movable by a solenoid in short strokes between positions: (a) the valve is engageable with one end 53 of said valve spool and said valve spool is means 52 for moving the valve spool to the first position; (b) a solenoid is mounted on the valve body so that the solenoid moves the valve spool to the second position by direct engagement with the valve body;
The solenoid has a magnetic pole piece 40 adjacent to one end of the valve spool hole and having one end pressed against one end 42 of the valve body, and the solenoid has a magnetic pole piece 40 adjacent to one end of the valve spool hole and having one end pressed against one end 42 of the valve body. (c) the solenoid includes means 41 for elastically biasing the pole piece into a position pressed against the valve body; (d) the other end 46 of the valve spool is pressed against the pole piece of the solenoid when the valve spool is in the first position; and (e) the solenoid is activated when it is energized. , an armature 43 movable into engagement with said other end of the pole piece; (f) an axial bore 4 in said pole piece of said solenoid;
A push rod 44 is movably mounted through 5 and has one end in operative engagement with said other end 46 of said valve sprawl and an other end in engagement with said armature, thereby causing a solenoid to operate. When activated, the armature moves the annular valve member into the first position over a short stroke through the push rod and valve sprawl.
the annular valve member is moved from the first position in sealing engagement with the lands of another set to the second position in sealing engagement with the lands of another set, and the solenoid is de-energized. and the means engageable with the one end of the valve spool returns the valve sprawl to the first position. 2. The amount of travel that the valve spool is moved from the first position to the second position when the solenoid is energized is equal to the difference in length between the pole piece and the push rod. A flow direction control direct acting electromagnetic slip valve according to claim 1. 3. The flow direction controlled direct acting electromagnetic slip valve according to claim 2, wherein the push rod has one end that is integrated with the other end of the valve spool. 4. The flow direction controlled direct acting electromagnetic slip valve according to claim 3, wherein the means for elastically biasing the magnetic pole piece to a position pressed against the valve body comprises a spring means 41. 5 return spring means 5 which means can engage one end of the spool valve to move the spool valve to the first position;
Claim 1 consisting of 2.
The flow direction control direct acting electromagnetic slip valve according to any one of items 1 to 4. 6. A flow direction controlled direct acting electromagnetic slip valve according to claim 1, wherein the means engageable at one end of the spool valve for moving the valve spool to the first position includes a second solenoid 60. 7 (a) said another solenoid is attached to the valve body and moves the valve spool to a first position;
(b) the other solenoid includes a pole piece 62 pressed against the valve body with one end adjacent the other end of the valve spool hole; (b) the other solenoid presses the second pole piece against the valve body; (c) said one end of the valve spool includes means 63 for resiliently biasing the valve spool into a pressed position;
(d) said another solenoid is movable to engage the other end of said second pole piece when it is energized; (e) a bushing rod 65 is movably mounted through an aperture in said second pole piece, said bushing rod 65 having one end operably engaged with said one end of the valve spool and the other end operably engaging said one end of the valve spool; can be engaged by the raised armature, thereby causing said second
6. The second armature moves the second barred pushrod and valve spool from the second position to the first position when the solenoid of the valve is energized. Flow direction control direct acting electromagnetic slip valve described in . 8. The flow direction control direct acting electromagnetic slip valve according to claim 7, wherein the second push rod of the second solenoid has one end integrated with one end of the valve spool. . 9. The flow according to claim 8, wherein the means for elastically biasing the second magnetic pole piece of the second solenoid to a position pressed against the valve body comprises a spring means 63. Directional direct acting electromagnetic slip valve.